Chilam Joshi Festival

Chilam Joshi Festival is, one of the most popular festivals, celebrated in Kalasha valleys of Chitral by the Kalash people. It is normally celebrated annually in the month of May from 13th of 16th to welcome the spring season.

There are various social and spiritual activities in these four days of the Chilim Joshi festival. The people of the Kalasha valleys pray for the betterment of their livestock. Women wear new and colorful dresses. The most important activities of the festival are song and dance with women and a grand community dance event. Festival is also an arrangement of selection of life partner within their community.

The Kalasha valleys are consist of three valleys, Bumburet, Rumbur, and Birir valleys in the Lower Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. These are isolated valleys at the elevation of 1900 to 2200 meters in the Chitral district. The Kalash people are a small community of Indo-Aryan speaking people. They are considered as a generation descended from the army of the Alexander the Great. According to Kalash tradition, their forefathers had migrated to the Chitral valley from Waigal valley in Nuristan province of Afghanistan.